Every year, we dread the moment of having to answer the fateful question “What are you doing for New Year’s Eve”? However, more and more people are choosing not to organize anything… and are much better off for it. Here’s why this simple choice, often frowned upon, actually brings relief to thousands of people.
Every year, the same pressure returns as December progresses: “What are you doing for New Year’s Eve on the 31st?” As if the idea of not planning anything for New Year’s Day was inconceivable. You have to say something, have a plan, show that you have friends, a social life, festive plans. And those who haven’t planned anything often find themselves feeling guilty, wondering what they missed, or isolating themselves for fear of admitting that they didn’t organize anything. However, behind this well-established social pressure, there are many more people than we think who don’t want to party… And who live it very well.
This lack of interest in New Year’s Eve has nothing to do with a lack of desire to live, but rather with concrete realities. The evenings of the 31st are often overpriced, between the meal, the outfits, the transport, and sometimes the accommodation. “I no longer want to spend 200 euros for an evening, nor to go to friends’ houses where I only know three people out of twenty,” Julia, 36, confides to us. “When games are organized, we don’t always dare to get into the mood, we get bored by smiling out of politeness,” she adds. Others are reluctant to spend hours in traffic jams or on dangerous roads on the way back, because of drunk drivers. “After doing it for years, I find that New Year’s Day is more of a “hassle” than anything else.“, tells us Léa, 32 years old. For parents, it’s often a headache: “until he was 3-4 years old, I didn’t really want to entrust him to a babysitter on the evening of the 31st,” Fanny tells us. And then, you have to add this childcare to the budget for the evening, it quickly gets expensive. “As for our friends, they have no desire to celebrate New Year’s Day with a young child in tow, refrain from making noise because it’s late”, she explains. And what about the elderly, often alone, not inclined to stay up until midnight and much happier at home, in peace.
It is time to normalize this choice: doing nothing on December 31 is not abnormal. Better still, for many, it’s a relief. This evening does not have to be exceptional just because the calendar changes. “For me, it’s an evening like any other“, Julia tells us. However, it can very much resemble a cozy evening, with a good home-cooked meal, a comforting film or a few lit candles as a couple or with the children. We can experience a real moment of sweetness with the family, far from the noise, social obligations and artificial excitement. There is no shame in wanting calm and simplicity to end the year.
And if you want to mark the occasion a little without going overboard, several options exist: a board game evening with the children, an enhanced dinner with loved ones, a binge-watching series under a blanket or a mini-evening with parent friends, where the children can sleep there while the adults enjoy without stress. The idea is not to do like everyone else, but to do what suits you. So, if that means not planning anything exceptional for the 31st, then so much the better: it’s perhaps the best way to start the year off right.
